Friday, March 29, 2024

Trying to eradicate poverty by increasing cash transfer is mockery-Nawakwi

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FDD leader Edith Nawakwi addressing the press
FDD leader Edith Nawakwi addressing the press

The Forum Democracy and Development (FDD) has described as a mockery to try and fight against poverty by increasing the funding to the social cash transfer as people do not need handouts but sustainable support that will improve their lives.

FDD president Edith Nawakwi observed that though the Minister acknowledges that most of the people in the country are living in abject poverty he has no idea on how to deal with it as increasing handouts is not a sustainable way of reducing poverty.

The Opposition leader said the country’s solution to eradicating extreme hunger and poverty is supporting farmers and that this can only happen if the current government can stop mocking people with handouts.

“Mr. Chikwanda should understand that the only method to eradicate extreme hunger and poverty is to support our farmers fully, India become a Green Revolution Country, Japan come out of poverty by their Greenian Revolution. We can’t continue to keep our women and men using the pick and the axe and hoe 50 years after independence.

“The Union Jack came down at midnight on 24th October in 1964, our grand mothers were using Pick and axe I was only about three years old then, today my sisters and brothers are using the same pick and axe to farm fifty years,in the year of the Jubilee you can still look at your people they walk to the field with an axe and hoe and you say to eradicate hunger is to give them some cash transfer! This is a mockery of the whole leadership and I think that this government of the PF with its current level of thinking with the current Ministers is taking us nowhere.”

And Ms. Nawakwi has called on Finance Minister Alexander Chikwanda to consider resting and allow young people with new ideas to take his position as it has become evident that he’s priorities are not in the best interest of the many people living abject poverty.

“This Minister doesn’t have priority; I have personally said this is the time for our brother to rest and I say that with affection and love but even my best attempt to try and persuade my elder brother to rest seem to be falling on deaf ears,” she said.

Ms. Nawakwi further suggested that the defence budget be killed off towards the Zambia National Service (ZNS) so that the resources can be deployed into the agriculture sector as ZNS is a depository of the country’s food security as opposed to purchasing defence wear when the country is not at war.

Meanwhile, Ms. Nawakwi has observed that no ordinary Zambian will afford to buy the shares from ZCCM holdings that government intends to off load on the Lusaka Stock Exchange.

She noted that the shares to be offered on LUSE are a way of trying to loot the little that Zambians have been left with as only Ministers and their Family members will benefit as no ordinary Zambian is in a position to buy shares on LUSE because the current cost of living is too high for ordinary citizens to have extra money to invest.

She added that instead of selling the shares government should be increasing their stake in the mining companies something she said would have been communicated to the Minister had he consulted on the issue.

The Opposition Leader also advised government to ensure that mining companies demanding for refunds produce documentation before being refunded failure todo so then government should not entertain any thoughts of refunding them.

She explained that some mining companies do not want to produce documentation because they are scared that it may back fire as to where they have been selling the nations copper and at what price.

32 COMMENTS

  1. Well said ba Nawakwi am with you on this one. Handout won`t solve anything. These people need a sustainable venture that can help them in a long run. There is a famous chinese proverb which goes like “Don`t give a man fish, teach him how to fish and in that way you will feed him for the rest of his life.” High time people became fishermen and women.

    • Now this is opposition with relevance,for some strange reason though,Nawakwi has been hard on the old man ABC lately. Saulosi have you noticed that?

    • @Zamcab
      Yes man i have observed that. And i think her assertions and recommendation are in order because she has headed that ministry before. She knows all the bureaucracy and what it takes to make certain things work in that ministry.

    • There’s Nawakwi and her scared boy. How come she has wisdom now? Where was it when she was playing government with Chiluba?

    • The President we never had.

      Definitely electable presidential material. People of Zambia, how can we make it possible for her to be elected?

    • Without disputing what you have written but l would like to commend Government on this Iam working on the ground and see first hand the efforts our Government is making to help and improve the quality of life through Cash Money Transfer you will be surprised. Some from that little little money they have grown it into a sustainable income project and they are doing well.Families are transformed. The only thing is that most of the people who comment on issues do not understand what is on the ground. Also remember this project is not forever its for the a certain period of time.

  2. What will stop me from voting for this woman of substance? Every time she opens her mouth to say something, she talks sense.

  3. Wonderful! A star is born. Hon. Nawaki is definitely electable. I have reorganised my voting cards already, she is coming up in position!! She is correct on the mines, on targeting the poor, and shares on LUSE will benefit a few. I also agree we need creative individuals with relevant experience in the Finance role. PF should see this clearly.

  4. I can not agree more with Saulosi. Being in the microloan industy, we have noticed a lot of developing countries becoming a lot more sustainable and actually impacting the lives of many.

  5. Cheap politicing, you dont talk about defence budget. You equip yourself not because you are at war. The nation has to be ready to defend itself at anytime. No one buys arms when you are in a war situation. You have seen airforce planes crashing and your are saying the defence budget should be undone to cater for agriculture. How old are most of the zaf planes and helicoptors? The fact is the defece force needs money to re-equip. For how long has zns been running. Most of institutions like zns just lack leadership. Farming is serious besiness and can be very challenging, which most zambians are not earger to go into. Nawakwi you are Naive and cant lead no wonder you are not in parliament.

    • All chikwanda has done with increasing the social transfer funds is trying to support the velnerable and you can not fault a man for that. The gvt can not cater for everyone. The trouble in zambia is that we expect gvt to do everything and the dependance syndrome. Look back starting with the Kaunda era how much has been pumped into agriculture? Farmers still subsidiesed inputs and seeds. People willing to get themselves out of poverty should be willing to sacrifice and work hard, but if they expect gvt to provide everything, it wont happen. GVT however need to put in place deliberate policies to create market for farm produce. They should ban importation of the following: Chickens, eggs, potatoes, milk and milk products, beef and pork. SA supermarkets should source these products locally.

    • @james

      Concur with your second posting, but not with this one.

      Military expenditure is another way of taking money out of the economy, most of these specialist goods come from abroad. We are a peaceful country and should prioritise the poor who have lagged behind In Zambian development and supporting our most promising new economy, Agriculture at this moment. With elections in 2016 there is hardly time for PF to improve or conclude various development projects, which they will need to round up if voters are to balance their judgement at election time.

    • Good question. Nawakwi has reduced her party to a one-woman circus, much like the Ass: with no pride of ancestry and no hope for the future! Im always fascinated she she calls others too old to be in government and conveniently forgets what a fossil she is herself!

  6. Zambia by now should have had an advanced agricultural infrastructure and supplying food to all our neighbors and minting more forex than copper. We sit at the crossroads of africa and on abundant water, fertile soils, yet we are still a starving nation. A paradox, but I think it’s sheer stup!dity on the part of govt not to see this obvious way of eradicating poverty.

  7. As late Mwanawasa observed “Zambians are very forgetive”.Nawakwi & Chipimo are just like Cosmo & Mpombo- Political Branches of PF!Job seekers, unrealible,inconsistent & irrational sycophants.Nawakwi is a political failure,though her observations are already in PF’s abandoned Manifesto lies! One really has to fellow Zambian politics closely to critically analyse the selfishness of these mentioned above evils including Fred Mmembe & his Cartelist political brothers.Zambians, more especially the poorest of the poor are in hell!These hardcore political bloody looters are now bankrupt.PF kakey envelope they received after 2011 general elections have finished hence these obvious social- economical observations!

  8. We can simply buy cheap tractors, distribute them across the country and man/woman you would see the bamper harvest. But no, selfiness and greed first! Compound that with corrupt thinking, we have failed to do the right thing, improving agriculture. Definately hand out are myopic ways of looking at development. Developed world have used them and we never went any far. Now we turn handouts on ourselves, pew!

  9. Pretty but old Nawakwi is just politicking. How much did she do when she was occupying Chikwanda’s seat at the Ministry if Finance? Should we not follow modern trends like cash transfer and maintain things we ve failed to deliver past 50yrs? At least there will be liquidity in villages to enhance business st that level.

  10. While you speak sense madam, but remember that you were Finance Minister for 15 years. Hon. Chikwanda has just been there practically 2years. And you want him to do what you failure to do in 15years. Sometimes even when you keep quite they will say she is wise.

    Hon.Chikwanda am behind you. ViVA PF 2016

    • But how much did she borrow from IMF and Investors?? Did she hand over balanced books?

      The external debt is from PF. They need to find and concentrate on other methods of revenue raising.

  11. Nabo ba Nawakwi, so tell us how to raise extra funds for the budget. And how a broke government can buy extra shares in the mines, they dont come free and if you try some monkey tricks it is tantamount to nationalisation with all its implications for investment in our economy. Fact is money has been sunk in one sided development: roads, bonds, and increasing salaries recklessly for general workers at the expense of skilled nurses etc. If you are that smart Nawakwi, get to the root of the problem & give Chikwanda sound advice and not playing to the gallery like that fool mmembe.

  12. The agitation for salary increments is coming largely from the same general workforce which received undeserved salary levels, they “invested” their money in buying cars which they now cant afford to maintain. They want more money to maintain an artificial lifestyle disguised in poverty reduction. The issue of wage freeze has become one of artificial lifestyles rather than fighting poverty. And no one including the unions are talking about the impact on present or future pension implications, pensioners are being sent prematurely to the graves and unions dont see anything wrong with that because they dont get any contributions from pensioners in order to fatten their pockets, now what will the future look like?

  13. The Nation newspaper is the only one which has given a sober analysis of this wage freeze by suggesting that we should be looking at addressing the anomalies created by the last wage increases and come up with a proper salary structure before we talk about lifting the wage freeze.

    • @Benjamin, I am with you dear. They received salary increments they did not deserve and got drunk with the cash which they splashed on cars and 90 prcent of it ended up in Japan. They economy never got anything and now they want more. The increments they received were enough to cover the 2 years wage freeze. Most of these zombies condeming the wage freeze dont even know how GVT raises its monney. They think it grows like lemons on trees. You had the big salary increase now is time to sacrifice a little for mother zambia.

  14. that ka lady with useless boobs and an ugly face should shove come rotten potatoes through the chinyo while the man sitting next to her should put some seasoning around the potatoes and do it Kilimanjaro style from top to bottom kanshi; evans mfula at evaduco reporting live from lusaka people…..

  15. Ba Mrs. Nawakwi-Hambulo, it is a great pity rich people like you don’t understand us poor people how exactly we struggle to live. Cash transfer government gave me for three months has managed to get me out of poverty in only one year of getting the money. I bought Chicken for sale and later bought vegetable seeds with it, a hoe and an axe for clearing the garden. Besides feeding me, I sold most of my vegetables, sent my child to school, was able to pay medical bills and met daily needs – all from the cash transfer. So, I don’t understand your remarks or are you saying I should have been let to die or that instead of paying me, government should have just enjoyed the money through corruption? Bamuka Hambulo, I don’t understand you. You clearly are not speaking for me on this one.

    • Which goes to an important point – there is too little hard currency circulating in the economy, even for entrepreneurs who can produce goods to make even more money.

      This destruction of the demand side of the economy is the real problem.

      And it is wasting everyone’s time – and time is money too.

      We need a government with the vision and guts to go against the IMF/World Bank’s New World Order economics.

      We need an end to supply side economics, and a return to demand side economics.

      And we need to use the money from the mines to do it.

      Now if the UPND is ready to swear of neoliberalism as an ideology (deregulation, ‘free trade’ for corporations, and privatisation/briberization).

      There are certain things only the State can do – like cash transfer.

  16. I COULDN’T AGREE MORE WITH NAWAKWI. I THINK ABOUT THE SAME THINGS NAWAKWI HAS BROUGHT OUT AND I THINK SHE’S BRILLIANT OPPOSITION BY FAR, THAN HH AND OTHERS WHO DON’T EVEN KNOW ON WHAT THINGS TO OPPOSE. 50 YEARS OF INDEPENDENCE ALL ZAMBIAN FARMERS MUST BE OWNING AT LEAST PLOUGHING TRACTORS. IT PAINS ME THAT ALL ZAMBIAN GOVTS HAVE COMPLETELY FAILED TO TAKE ADVANTAGE OF ZAMBIA’S FERTILE LAND AND COPIOUS WATER SUPPLY TO GROW IN ORDER TO FEED THE WORLD. EVERY GOVT IS JUST SINGING THE SAME “IMPROVING AGRICULTURE”, SONG. WE DON’T NEED TO IMPROVE. WE JUST MUST START PRODUCING TO FEED THE WORLD.

  17. Nawakwi is right? Govt increased salaries bt failed to put effective measures to arrest inflation.Furthermore it parted away with subsidies on fuel not knowing that fuel is a significant driver of the economy. Its evil to urge civil servants to sacrifice while politicians are busy pocketing countries’ wealth and creating unneccessary bye elections.Then those pipo criticising civil servants for buying vehicles are selfish and *****ic morons. Is it a crime to own a vehicle when one uses the gains of his own sweat.Wy has it bcome a trend to pay politicians more money even when they ar illiterates and short of knowledge of the ministries they head. Zambians wake up

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